1. Field
This invention relates to computer networking, and more specifically but not exclusively, to allow the dynamic simultaneous use of network connections among network nodes in the same broadcast domain.
2. Background Description
Video content distribution is getting more pervasive and it opens the opportunity for new applications and services. In certain circumstances, such as video to the home, this will require an easy to set-up and use, robust home network that provides full coverage throughout the home and serves multiple uses including video entertainment, gaming, music, photo sharing, traditional data communications, access to home automation gateways, Internet access, voice and video communications. A number of Radio Frequency (RF) based network technologies such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) wireless standard family 802.11, Home Plug AV (HPAV) and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) are targeting this usage model. Technical and market factors such as variable performance of individual link technologies across different topologies, home floor plans, and preference of particular technologies by different device vendors suggest that a multitude of these technologies are likely to co-exist in a bridged home Local Area Network (LAN), rather than one single technology dominating all future networks. High-end end-user devices may ship with multiple network interfaces such as 802.11n, UWB, and Ethernet whereas low cost end-user devices may include only a single interface such as 802.11n or HPAV based on vendor preference. To ensure interoperability between devices in such a hybrid network topology, access points and bridges are manufactured and sold to interconnect these heterogeneous links into a single bridged network for example, in support of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) industry consortium.
Although bridges allow the interconnection of different end-user devices with heterogeneous link technologies, existing standards and network stack implementations on end-user devices typically limit the end-user devices to utilize only a single connection or interface to the bridged LAN. However, future home network devices will likely have multiple interfaces available to connect to the home network. For example, a streaming media server such as an Intel® Viiv™ server may have a choice between 802.11n and Power Line (HPAV) to connect to the bridged LAN.
The network stack in most computer systems today is not capable of leveraging the benefit of having multiple network interfaces connected to the same bridged LAN. The default configuration in most computer systems such as Windows and Linux systems is to enable Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) on all interfaces and use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to acquire an Internet Protocol (IP) address and other configuration information from a server on the network. When multiple interfaces are detected as being connected to the same LAN subnet, only one of the network interfaces is automatically chosen as the primary interface and used for all communication. The other interfaces are left unused even though they are still connected to the network. This is a fundamental limitation imposed by the way network stacks are implemented today because it allows only one interface to connect actively to a particular subnet.